Grieving family members sue over handling of bodies

Two Virginia widows are suing for the way businesses have handled remains of their husbands.

A Chesapeake woman claims she experienced nightmares and panic attacks after finding another decedent in her husband’s casket when she arrived for a viewing last April. Candace Wagner said the viewing for the late James “Jim” Wagner was delayed for two hours while a funeral home straightened out the mix-up, according her lawsuit.

The funeral home was hit with two lawsuits over the incident, from both Candace and son Nathan Wagner, according to The Virginian-Pilot. Each suit seeks $850,000.

A Culpeper widow claims her deceased husband has been kept from his final resting place for eight years by a cemetery’s failure to prepare a proper mausoleum.

The remains of noted Culpeper surgeon Grahame Henson have been “warehoused in a temporary unsealed, unmarked crypt,” according to his widow, June.

June Henson claims in her suit that the mausoleum she has been paying for has a flawed foundation. She says repairs have been inadequate, and – accordingly – she stopped making payments.